Governor Jim Justice announced that, 11 months through Fiscal Year 2022, year-to-date collections of more than $5.225 billion are a record $1.107 billion above the YTD estimate and 16.3% ahead of last year, breaking the all-time state record for total collections through the month of May.
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This marks the first time in state history that cumulative collections have ever exceeded $5 billion at any point on the calendar, with another month still remaining in this fiscal year.
“I hate to sound like a broken record but we have ANOTHER broken record!” Governor Justice said. “Celebrating records never gets old, especially when it comes to our revenue collections.”
West Virginia’s General Revenue collections for May 2022 came in at $113.8 million over estimate.
May saw additional state records broken for personal income tax collections.
Personal income tax collections totaled $181.7 million. Monthly collections exceeded estimates by roughly $35.5 million. YTD collections of roughly $2.270 billion were a record $430.5 million above estimate and 16.2% ahead of prior year.
Severance tax collections totaled a record $92.7 million. Collections were $62.4 million above estimate and 295.5% ahead of last year. YTD general revenue fund severance tax collections were $358.2 million above estimate and $430.0 million ahead of last year. YTD general revenue fund severance tax collections were 197.3% ahead of last year.
Corporation net income tax collections of $13.8 million were $5.3 million above estimate and 46.2% ahead of last year. YTD CNIT was $159.3 million above estimate and 46.9% ahead of prior year adjusted receipts.
Consumer sales tax receipts of $150.7 million were $24.7 million above estimate. YTD collections were $150.6 million above estimate and 7.4% ahead of prior year.
Insurance premium tax collections were $1.3 million above estimate and 208.9% ahead of prior year. YTD collections of $134.9 million were $9.0 million above estimate and 15.0% above prior year.
Governor Justice also announced that West Virginia reached the 2nd-highest export growth rate of any state in the nation for 2021.
Meanwhile, the Governor’s Roads To Prosperity program is the state’s largest-ever investment in road maintenance and improvement; after 50 years of neglecting its roads, the state has committed more than $2 billion dollars to fixing them.
Teachers and state employees have received their two largest pay raises ever, and a third pay raise has been proposed. The state’s Rainy Day Fund now exceeds $1 billion – another record – and its public pension funds are better-funded than they have been in decades. ■